Shusaku Endo and his literary works

Shusaku Endo

The Concepts of Sacrifice and Unconditional Love in Christianity in the Context of Culture-Based Japanese Society: Analysis of Shusaku Endo's "Silence"

An important function that literature provides for humanity is that it enables the individual to take note of human history the subjective way, in a manner that the individual/writer -- the creator of this literary piece -- interpreted a specific event or incident relevant and/or significant to human history. In effect, more than just being an outlet for human expression, literature also acts an archive, wherein an individual's subjective interpretation of history is recorded and offered to other people to be judged or appreciated, or both.

The novel "Silence" by Shusaku Endo assumes this function of a literary piece: as a chronicler of Endo's interpretation of an important period in Japanese history. In 1966, the novel "Silence" was published, giving birth to a novel that reflected a period in Japanese history, during the mid-17th century, wherein prevalent persecution of Japanese Christians occurred. This event and period in Japanese history is chronicled by Endo, giving it a new perspective by portraying the dynamics that happened among Japanese Christians, members of the Japanese shogunate who are against Christianity, and the missionaries who converted and persisted to convert the Japanese to Christianity even up to the time of persecutions.

The analysis provided herein posits that Endo intended to illustrate how Christianity has become the embodiment of Western influence during the 17th century in Japan. More specifically, the analysis attributes the theme of sacrifice and unconditional love as characteristics of Christianity that did not successfully coincide with Japanese values and beliefs as a society. This paper contends that sacrifice and unconditional love clashed with the persistence of the Japanese trait of conditional, and sometimes inflexible, view of life -- and this applies to every aspect of people's lives, like religion, politics, and economy, among others.

The protagonist of the novel, Father Rodrigues, characterizes the individual whose being Christian makes him subject to criticism and persecution in Japan. In fact, Endo's characterization of Father Rodrigues is universal, in that his character represents every individual who was compelled, by circumstances, to question his faith in the god he believes in. Father Rodrigues is the representative of every believing individual who seeks truth in life through religion.

Ironically, though, questioning one's faith is discouraged and interpreted as a sign of unfaithfulness in Christianity. Looking at Father Rodrigues's condition, the reader can understand his dilemma, considering this dilemma as a problem that occurred as one seeks to know the truth about God's and man's existence in the world. However, looking at Father Rodrigues's attitude in the novel through the Catholic perspective, his actions are indeed reflective of apostasy, the "crime" which dissenters of Christianity were called and labeled after stepping on the fumie (picture of Madonna and the Child), a symbolic representation of one's renouncement of his Christian faith.

It is this instance in the novel that the theme of sacrifice emerges. Through the characters of the numerous Japanese Christians who died for their faith, the novel captured the mood of selflessness required of followers and believers of Christianity. Though the novel illustrates Fathers Rodrigues and Ferreira as apostates, their action of stepping on the fumie is but a reflection of their sacrifice, forced to choose between a symbolic renunciation of their faith and saving the lives of many Japanese Christians held for persecution. Indeed, the Japanese persecutors were well-aware of the concept of sacrifice in Christianity that they even used this as a bait to convince Father Rodrigues to renounce his faith: "It is only a formality. What do formalities matter?...Only go through with the exterior of trampling."

Of course, the act of trampling on the fumie can also be interpreted two ways: one can assume that Father Rodrigues agreed to step on the fumie because of the soundness of the said argument, although for the Japanese society, which takes actions as the embodiment of an individual's thoughts and feelings, this action simply and ultimately signifies the priest's renunciation of his faith. Gessel (1999) explicated that Father Rodrigues's gesture of putting his foot on the fumie is a symbol of setting aside all the religious debates that lead only to conflict and is performing an act of compassion...By "losing his life" as a Catholic priest, Rodrigues found the meaning of his mission to Japan, which is simply to make the lives of the humble and the powerless bearable (45).

This analysis also reflects the contradiction between Father Rodrigues as a European Catholic priest and another character, the Japanese Kichijiro, as a Japanese Christian-turned-traitor in the novel. Unlike Father Rodrigues, Kichijiro chose to become a traitor rather than experience suffering by sacrificing and admitting that he is a Japanese Christian. Rodrigues and Kichijiro represent the opposite sides of the religious spectrum in Japan, wherein Rodrigues' mindset required him to make a sacrifice based on his faith, while Kichijiro remained loyal to his identity as Japanese, regardless of the fact that he was converted and has become a member of the Christian community (Snyder, 1999:192).